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Worger, Robert G

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Collegiality in secondary school senior management teams : substance or rhetoric?

This is an account and evaluation of qualitative research exploring issues surrounding collegial practice in senior management teams  (SMTs) of  secondary schools. 



In questioning whether effective SMTs nurture school improvement, the study focuses primarily on the inter-play between the concepts of leadership, collegiality and management styles in a single-site case study set in Larchdale School, a large, mixed 11-19 urban secondary school, during a period of change and re-structuring of the SMT, principally due to a change of head.



Reflection on researcher perceptions from the Larchdale case study has been supported by an investigation of SMT collegiality in a wider context based on data collected from a sample of 37 secondary schools and also through perceptions from experienced professionals in focus group discussion and use of a mapping exercise.



The research is underpinned by consideration of the effects of institutional context and the historical background of the school effectiveness and improvement debate. Three fundamental research questions are asked which seek to identify the nature of collegial practice in the single-site SMT, in a wider context of schools reported by change agents and through document analysis, and finally on the impact of collegial practice within SMTs on school effectiveness and improvement.



A comprehensive literature review discusses the functionality of teams, school effectiveness, collegiality and the crucial importance of leadership.



Methodological literature most relevant and influential to the research design is discussed, justifying the grounded theory approach to the single-site qualitative case study and the other methods of data collection and analysis utilised to investigate the wider context.



Data collection, analysis and findings identify key issues of leadership, coherence, collegiality, intentionality and dissent at Larchdale and, through focus group discussion and a conceptual mapping exercise with external agents, within a number of secondary school SMTs.			                                      



The conclusions suggest that, although there is a relationship between school effectiveness and discernible levels of visionary leadership, coherence and intentionality in the strategic management practice of secondary school heads and their senior management teams, there exists a reality gap between the rhetoric and the reality in the way that heads and their SMTs run secondary schools. 



A model of headship, contingency based headship, is tentatively suggested as effective, pragmatic and visionary, incorporating and balancing differing leadership qualities but also embracing substantive elements of collegial practice.  Contrived collegiality relating to secondary school SMTs is discussed within a theoretical framework clearly identifying elements of substance and rhetoric. 



The outcomes of the research are claimed to extend the boundaries of theory and knowledge surrounding strategic management practice in secondary schools, and have relevance to a wide audience of practitioners and advisors

Collegiality in secondary school senior management teams : substance or rhetoric?

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